


Daytime Friends, Nighttime Fools

by starkind



Series: All The WIPs In One Place [1]
Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Crossover Pairings, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Explicit Language, Identity Issues, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:15:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29139879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkind/pseuds/starkind
Summary: When Anthony Edward Stark, age 23, decided to become a professional pole dancer, his family tried to intervene.
Relationships: Tony Stark & Avengers Team, eventual Tony Stark/Bruce Wayne
Series: All The WIPs In One Place [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2140476
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Haven't done an IronBat stripper-AU, so I felt like I needed one? 
> 
> Since I'm about to clean out my WIP folder, I decided this age-old stub should make it out into the open first.
> 
> Please note: This is an unfinished story, though there might be more at some point (if requested)

“We're not open yet.”

Tony looked up from his phone and at the man who had stepped into his way.  
  
“Yeah? So?”

A hand landed on his chest as he proceeded to walk past. “I'm serious.” In slow motion, Tony cast his eyes down. The man's fingers looked too neat and manicured for his profession. His mouth curved with the slightest bout of irritation. “Me, too, pal. I'm working here, Dirty Harry, update your protocols, man.” The man gave no facial reaction. “Name?” Tony arched a brow.

Before he got to say something audacious, movement from behind the man caught his attention. Tony's smirk turned nasty. “He knows who I am.” His chin pointed at the tall, bald man wearing a long black coat. “Ain't that right, Nick?” Nick Fury's persistent scowl did not lessen, even as he nodded. “Tony's part of the team. Go help Hogan and Barns with the crates.” Wordless, the man turned around and left.

Tony's eyes followed his broad back until the door fell shut behind him. The questioning look he cast Fury was met with an unemotional shrug. “Don't mind him, Hasn't been long since his return to the States.” Tony slid his phone into the pocket of his sweater jacket. “Return?” Fury slipped a cigarette into the corner of his mouth and lit it with a quick flip of a Zippo.

“Worked here before, disappeared for a good while. Abroad or some shit. What do I know.”

“You took him back just like that?”

“He's an asshole, but an asshole who’s good at what he does.”

Tony frowned at the space the man in question had vacated. “What's his problem?” Fury expelled a cloud of blue smoke. “He hates this job and everything about it.” That made Tony snort. “More than enough ways to make ends meet. Fella looks like he'd belong behind a desk or somewhere cozy.” Fury blew another gust into the air without taking the cigarette from his mouth. It moved in between his lips as he spoke.

“Used to catch shoplifters in retail stores, assisted crazy overdosed pill-poppers at parties, and kicked people out of pubs.”

“And you believe that.”

Tony’s brazen comment was met with a glower as Fury crushed the half-smoked stub under his heel and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I don't give a flying fuck as long as he gets the job done.” His good eye narrowed in on his youngest employee before he tapped at his watch. “Same goes for you, Stark. Go get ready, you're on the clock since eight minutes ago.”

Said man gave him a pointed look before he grabbed his bag and went to get changed.

+

When Anthony Edward Stark, age 23, decided to become a professional pole dancer, his family tried to intervene. Wealthy and influential, they ended up severing all ties to him in the end. Never on good terms with his father anyhow, Anthony ditched his middle and last name and went to make a living as Tony the Tiger. Young and naïve, and rather small and lean than big and bulky, job hunting became a series of trial & error.

In the end, a male strip club in New Jersey had only hired him after making him audition twice for the free spot, telling him his acrobatics were neat but their clientele more focused on bulging muscles. Compared to the other dancers, a bunch of guys by the names of Steve, Sam, Clint, and Donald, he was a lightweight, but Tony was the only one out of them who knew how to really work the pole.

After he had performed an impromptu strip to do the term 'Stark Naked' justice, he had eventually gotten the job.

Inside the club, it was still dark and empty, with soft music from a faraway radio filling the air. Tony smiled and reached over the counter to high-five Rhodey the bartender who had become one of Tony's closest friends and alleys. He and Pepper made his life indefinitely more bearable.

Pepper, originally going by Virginia, was a redhead and had joined the team after her girlfriend Nat had introduced her to Nick and the scene. Both women enjoyed being the only two ladies working at the club, and getting to save their male colleagues from crazy drooling hoards of straight females ever so often.

Nick Fury, the manager of 'Hunks Assembled' took great pride in the fact that their clients, male and female alike, were usually well-behaved enough to know they were not supposed to touch or engage the dancers in physical activities. Should this not be the case, he had a solid team of hired muscle at his beck and call, who discreetly kept things in order.

The bouncers -or, as Nick preferred to call them, security guards- were a diverse bunch. There was Phil, the oldest of them, who had been working with Nick for ages, Bucky who alternated between affectionately cheeky and downright scary, Happy who was a former boxer, and Brock, an ex-con. Ever since Nick caught him taking cash out of the safe, however, Brock had effectively been removed overnight.

He had thus been replaced by the taciturn fellow Tony came to learn went by the name of Bruce.

They bumped into each other again backstage, almost colliding as Bruce was busy hauling four cases of beer down the corridor, two on each side.

“Watch it.”

It almost sounded like a growl. With a mock-apologetic grin, Tony raised both hands in the air and flattened himself against the wall.

“Your service face needs work, anyone ever told you?”

Bottles rattled inside the plastic cases as Bruce shifted his grip.

“All the time.”

He pushed the swinging door to the stage open with a foot and disappeared inside the unlit room.

+

Hours later, Clint waddled through the backstage area, his miniature speedo stuffed to the brim with $20 bills. Sam was just getting ready, oiling his chest and cracking jokes with Steve. Donald, going by his stage name ‘Thor’ was currently out on stage, a special booking for a bachelorette party. Less than five minutes in, he already made the ladies howl and cheer in delight. Chants of "get 'em off, get 'em off" echoed through the club.

Clint grinned, busy collecting and counting his nightly haul. “That whole Mighty Hammer schtick is so corny but works every time. They turn wild at the sight.” Steve, who was currently putting the finishing touches to his two-piece military costume, threw them a look. “Just wait. Man in uniform always does the trick.” Bucky walked past him just then, a set of spare thermal credit card paper for the cashier in his hand. He snorted.

“Should've gone for Officer Sexy, Stevie. Commander Commando's nice, but you could've made more by writing tickets for all those parking offenders outside.”

Tony grinned at their banter. After having seen Barnes in a tight long-sleeved shirt for the first time, he had been wondering why Bucky was not up on stage instead of him. As he found out a bit later, Barnes's left arm was completely marred and covered up in 3rd-degree burns. Reminders from the war, Bucky had said, and gotten a peculiar look on his face that only went away when Steve made eye contact with him.

When Tony sneaked out into the main area to get a free soft drink from Rhodey before his performance, the club was already bustling with music and carrying a sizable party crowd. There was a public holiday the next day, and people were eager for a good time. The obligatory bachelorette parties dominated the scene, but there were a couple of tables occupied by men sitting and sipping on drinks as well.

“Watch out. Lots of dodgy people here tonight.”

Rhodey's voice was gruff as he stood and polished an endless stack of crystal tumblers. Tony nodded and adjusted the jockstrap under his bathrobe as discreetly as possible. “Disturbing how normal human beings turn into raving sociopaths at night.” With a sympathetic nod, Rhodes slipped him a coke zero which he devoured with gratitude before slipping backstage again to self-tan his legs.

The stuff burnt like hell on shaved skin, so he always saved them for last. His warmup routine included several sets of pushups and full-body stretches before he was out on stage half an hour later, dressed in nothing but a pair of shiny black leather pants that left nothing to the imagination until they gave way to the tiny piece of fabric underneath.


	2. Chapter 2

The thumping beats of 'I Like The Way You Move' hammered through the club in sync with appropriate stroboscopic lighting. All dancers did what they are best at, gyrating their hips and teasing the mostly-but-not-exclusively female crowd. The club had four stages which were constantly rotated and getting worked at. Bruce's eyes found a certain silhouette atop the second stage and, despite not wanting to, lingered.

After their first, initial meeting gone south, he and Tony Stark never exchanged another single look - except when official business hours began and it was Bruce's job to see to the dancers staying untouched. Stark moved with grace as he worked the pole; muscles rippling under tanned skin. His goatee stretched into a seductive but vapid smile as their eyes met across the crowd, but it could have been a trick of the light.

That was when Bruce's in-ear buzzed.

A few words from Hogan later, he was brushing past a couple of thirty-somethings and headed out to help at the extremely busy door. For a good half an hour, he remained standing by the main entrance, checking IDs and telling people off because the club was full before his buzzer went off close to 0:30, letting him know there was some problem inside. One of those incidents where too much alcohol was involved.

Bruce hurried back inside and saw a man yelling up at Tony's stage. Pushing through the heaving crowd, Bruce came to stand next to the podium. “What's going on here?” His eyes briefly met the man above, taking in how his exposed skin glistened from perspiration and oil. Panic lurked behind Tony's large eyes even if he managed to stay professional and put up yet another of his catty smirks.

“Fella's gotten a little handsy.” 

Bruce's unsympathetic eyes went back to the intoxicated customer. At his withering stare, the man hiccuped. “Man, I was gonna pay, y'know? I just wanted to...” The bass-laden music made it difficult to understand the drunken babbling, but Bruce was good at lip-reading. He shook his head, face stern and unmoving.

“Not possible. Club policy.”

“I pay good money. C'mon.”

When he made a move to grope for one of Tony's bare legs again, there was Bruce's vice-like grip around his wrist.

“I have to ask you to leave.”

The client's face twisted into something resembling a growling dog.

“Make me.”

All expressionless, Bruce grabbed him by the front of his shirt and lifted him up. With his feet just above the ground, he then carried the guy through the front door and out onto the street. Too stunned to understand what was happening, the stupefied man began to stir and struggle in his grip at the first whiff of fresh air. Bruce thus hooked his legs around those of the shorter man and brought them both to the ground.

This, however, made the man even more furious at being restrained, and two fists lunged for Bruce's shirt. They ended up ripping off his small security badge in the process as the man screamed insults up in his face, sending spit flying. Undeterred, Bruce applied a forearm choke to get a word in. “Calm the fuck down or I'm not going to let you up.” It did not take long for a crowd to gather around them, much to Bruce's dismay.

People were either cheering them on or calling for Bruce to let him up. The man raised his hands, palms facing Bruce, to indicate he was going to oblige. Once Bruce had gotten up and stepped back, he removed his watch from around his wrist; its glass had gotten splintered after the fall. The man also got up and, in a drunken stupor decision, came straight at him again, muttering something through clenched teeth, and threw a punch.

On autopilot, Bruce dropped his watch and dodged the jab with ease. That time, however, he grabbed his attacker around the middle and brought him down to the ground again with a heavy thud. Someone from behind then pulled at him, and Bruce gave a low, dangerous snarl. Just when he was prepared to fight several guys at once, he noticed the hands belonged to Hogan and Barnes. "He's got enough, let go, Bruce, c'mon."

As sirens wailed through the night, Bruce harrumphed out loud and stepped back, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. By the time the police finally arrived, the inebriated man had vomited up on the boardwalk in front of the club, twice. Bruce explained what had happened to the officers in a few, clipped words, all the while flexing his arm from where he had used it in a strong chokehold for the longest time.

Once he was allowed to leave, he went to retrieve his name tag and his broken watch, handing the tag off at the cashier and putting the watch into the pocket of his jeans. For the rest of the night, he remained inside, eyes fixated on the masses with the same unwavering stare from before. From the corner of his eye, he saw Tony trying to catch his gaze for the longest time, despite performing for the crowd.

Bruce looked away.

+

Around 2:45 am, long after his shift was finished, Bruce stuffed his working clothes reeking of stale smoke into his bag. He was one of the last ones to leave and made his way out to where his old and battered Toyota pickup truck stood waiting behind the club. Ignoring the stench of a nearby dumpster, he slammed the trunk shut with force, seeing it was dented and always got stuck. That was when the door behind him creaked.

“Bruce?”  
  
In the red neon lights from above, Tony looked even more delicate and sinewy; his eyes larger than usual.  
  
“Thanks for your help earlier on. Heard there was a bit of trouble outside?”

Bruce pushed down on the metal hood once again to make sure it stayed closed for good. “Just doing my job.” The shorter man shivered a little as a gust of wind blew around the flimsy robe he wore over his stage clothes. “Hey, uhm... can you... think you could give me a ride? I just missed the last bus, and I don't wanna sleep here.” Bruce inhaled sharply through his nose. His fingers clenched around the car keys in his hand.

“If you hurry up.”

Tony looked relieved and nodded with vigor.

“Just need to shower real quick. Be with you in ten.”

The backstage door slammed shut with a grating metal noise. While he waited, Bruce sat in the driver's seat and stared ahead, willing his burning eyes to not droop shut. A young-looking male with damp, curly hair and dirty-white sneakers slid into the passenger seat fifteen minutes later. Bruce stared at him until Tony grimaced and dropped his well-worn backpack between his feet.

“I just debunked the myth, eh?”

“No.”

“I know I look like a regular John Doe underneath those five pounds of makeup and baby oil.”

Instead of an answer, Bruce turned the keys. The truck sprang to life with an ill-sounding whine of the engine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony's performance inspired by this [video of Peter Holoda](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlO1CSEuu4w)
> 
> [The song mentioned/playing in this chapter is by the Bodyrockers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yNFDgfqvG8)


End file.
